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It has been almost impossible to keep this secret! I am beyond excited to share with you that I have a quilt featured in the 2020 Quilter’s Planner! And it went all the way to Costa Rica for a photo shoot! Wish I could have hand delivered it!! Just look at these amazing pictures Kitty from The Night Quilter, took of it!!

📸 Photo credit to Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter

My quilt is a modern sampler quilt with lots of negative space. I mixed up the sizes of the blocks as I love the sense of depth you get from doing that.

When it came to colours, obviously it had to be rainbow , I think if you cut me in half you'd find rainbow running through my core lol! I loved working with the Quantum range by Giucy Giuce.

📸 Photo credit to Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter

Does all that negative space freak you out? Well I also think this pattern would make a fabulous table runner! That’s next on my list!

I decided to quilt the large sections of negative space with straight line quilting. I then echoed the blocks and filled in the gaps with a variety of free motion quilting.

📸 Photo credit to Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter

📸 Photo credit to Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter

Each year Stephanie from The Quilter’s Planner works with a fabric designer to design the look of the planner and to be featured in it. This year that designer is a fellow Brit: Karen Lewis!

Have you had a Quilter’s Planner before? I love mine! With your planner you also get a magazine with all the patterns for the featured quilts, of which there are twelve, plus the Block of the Month project by Karen Lewis.

Companion Magazine

Block of the Month Project

The Planner is chocked full of useful info as well. I particularly love the page for tracking all my projects! It helps to get them done! But the info pages are great for easy reference.

Useful Quilting Info

Projects Tracker

Project Planner

If you are in the States you can pre-order your planner now and even get to customise it. Options for customisation include: Cover; Sunday or Monday start; and which weekly layout you prefer. I think I’m going for the Teal and for me it has to be the horizontal layout with a Monday start!

If you aren’t in the States you can do that too, although sometimes the shipping can be off putting. So the good news is that Karen Lewis will be stocking these for anyone based in the UK or Europe. Sadly they won’t be customisable, but I think she might be stocking some of the accessories too.

Earlier this year I had an idea that it would be fun to make a group quilt version of the Tumbling Spools Quilt. The original just has a column of 6 spools and then the words on the right. I contacted all the people who had bought a copy of the pattern and asked them if they would like to contribute to a group quilt to enter into Festival of Quilts.

Tracy (Red Kite & Doe) and I in front of the quilt at Festival of Quilts

I was blown away at the response. Thirty lovely people wanted to be involved. So I set about designing a layout to incorporate lots of spools.

I gave contributors a block or two to make and gave guidelines on the colours to use. I had a couple for the back so I could put a custom label on it.

Some people chose to add their name, country or Instagram name to their spool.

Two seconds after I took this picture the quilt fell on the ground! (Before the Festival!!!!)

Thank you so much to all the contributors to this quilt. I was incredibly happy to see that we got a Highly Commended Badge for our efforts!

The idea for this quilt came about after taking a class at the Purple Stitches Quilt Retreat. Whilst there I took a class with Nicholas Ball to learn Improv Curved Piecing. I’ll be honest I thought I was going to hate the class: I am not into chancing things, I’m a planner and I like things to be perfect. So the idea of deliberately making them not perfect was a bit weird to me! So I was very surprised to feel liberated by the experience!

After making a mini version of this (pictured below), I sketched out a variation. The mini had just been one square of improv curved strips of blue fabric, cut from an ombre piece of fabric.

Original Mini Quilt

But for the large one I wanted to use Kona solids instead. So I picked out twenty and spoke with Sulky Threads who kindly supplied me with the matching rayon threads. My variation was going to be much bigger than my mini so I thought it would be more interesting to separate the chunk of blue instead of having one square. Slicing it up made the circle shape more obvious.

I knew I intended to enter this quilt into the modern section of Festival of Quilts, so after studying their category requirements I was in a bit of a quandary. I had planned to do the graffiti quilting around the edge as I had done on the mini, but I felt that this wouldn’t really fit their description. So I thought about splitting the area outside the circle diagonally and doing straight line quilting on one side and pebbles on the other. But this left me feeling deflated. One of the things I had really wanted to work on this year was graffiti quilting after seeing so many lovely quilts with it on last year at Festival and also on Instagram. I am a big fan of Carolyn Moffat’s work of Free Bird Quilting and she had so inspired me to do this. So after chatting with some friends about it I decided to make the quilt the way I wanted, after all it was going to be living with me afterwards, not the judges!

And I’m so pleased I did. I thoroughly enjoyed quilting this piece I’ve definitely used shapes that I’ve seen in Carolyn’s quilts and others that I’ve seen online. But I love how sometimes I started off with those in mind but as I was quilting I added new things or changed it to suit me.

All in all it was a liberating and fun project. It is quilted on my Bernina 770QE which is a large domestic machine.

Instead of binding the quilt, I decided to add a facing edge instead to compliment the modern aesthetic.

So here in the UK the annual Festival of Quilts event is fast approaching. I know this because I am frantically sewing up two projects that will be on display there (hopefully!). The Festival of Quilts is held every year at the end of July/beginning of August at the NEC in Birmingham. It’s a great central location enabling lots of people to be able to come. In fact attendance numbers are regularly around 25,000 over the four days. This year it’s on between 1-4 August (2019).

I LOVE going to the Festival each year and would encourage you to give it a go. I thought you might be interested in my top tips for a successful trip.

1. SEE THE QUILTS

First and foremost, you have to see the quilts! Surely that’s the whole reason for going! Last year an astounding 800 people entered quilts into the competition. Have you ever entered a quilt? I wrote a post last year on whether to enter or not, you can read it here. I’ve also recently read one here which is really interesting too. The competition quilts are not juried at this show, which means anyone can enter. I find it refreshing to see a total mix of abilities. It can still be overwhelming at times when you see the absolutely stunning and amazing work on show. But I try not to let that put me off when entering. I just try to remember that we are all on our own quilting journey and we are all at different points along the way. Some are ahead and some are behind but we must continue to walk our own walk. I’m entering three quilts this year: one in the group category; one traditional (I actually think it’s more Modern Traditionalism); and one new piece that I’m not really sure about but hey ho!

2. SPEAK TO THE ARTISTS IN THE GALLERIES

Every year there are artists’ galleries. In the gallery you will find a collection of works by one artist. He or she will be on hand to speak to about their work. I encourage you to speak to them, they will surely love the engagement. The galleries often introduce you to new techniques you may not have tried before.

3. TAKE A CLASS OR ATTEND A TALK

By the same token, there are a myriad of classes, workshops, talks and demonstrations on offer every year, over 400 this year! Take one, learn a new skill or just have a bit of fun. Not sure if there are places left or not but if so you can check them out here. This year I’ve decided to have a go at long arm quilting, so I’m taking a whole afternoon class. Really looking forward to that.

4. MEET UP IN REAL LIFE

Are you on Instagram or Facebook? I bet you’ve made a tonne of friends online. Festival is the ideal place to meet up in real life. I’m coordinating a group quilt this year and so I’m hoping to meet as many of the contributors as possible. I’m the Chairperson of the Hampshire MQG and I’m hoping to meet up with other MQG members there. Frances (the UK MQG coordinator) will be meeting up with members at the Sewing Quarter cafe between 12 and 1.30pm on Thursday and Friday.

5. SUPPORT THE VENDORS

There will be over 350 vendors at the show all hoping you will spend your pennies with them. Having a stand at a show is a major investment for many small shops, prohibitive for some. So please please please support them. Obviously you can’t buy something from 350 shops, although I’m sure some of you might try lol! But maybe take a flyer to return at some point in the future. Like much of retail at the moment, our quilting shops are really feeling the pinch. If we want them to continue we must support them. You can see a full vendor list here.

6. WEAR COMFY SHOES

You will be on your feet and doing lots and lots of steps all day so be sure to wear comfy shoes!!

7. REST & RE-FUEL

Make sure to take time to rest those weary aching feet. There are a couple of cafes inside the halls. These do get filled up quickly, but there are also benches just outside the halls and other eating places too.

8. TAKE A SHOPPING BAG

OK so this is an obvious one! When you are doing your bit for the British economy and supporting the vendors you’ll need something to carry your goodies away. Even if you are being careful with your pennies I can guarantee you will buy something! So take a bag or bags!!! I have seen people with little wheeled suitcases and shopping carts. Not sure what the rules are for those, but they do have restrictions for large rucksacks:

Rucksacks larger than 55 x 40 x 20cm will not be permitted into the venue but can be left in the cloakroom. The reason for the ban is to help protect the quilts from damage.

9. PLAN PLAN PLAN

Take time to plan your trip to make the most of your time there. You can read all the information here.

10. BE INSPIRED NOT DISCOURAGED

As touched on in point 1, there is much to inspire. It can assault the senses somewhat!! Some people feel discouraged, I kind of get this. When leaving I always feel as though I need to ‘up my game’, or try new things. I think that’s good, I mean, I’m also encouraged that it is possible. Everyone improves the more they do. Last year I came away thinking I needed to improve my quilting, I loved the quilts with ‘graffiti’ quilting on, i.e. different designs all mixed in together. So this year I’ve tried it and I love it. This is the little piece I tried it on.

I’m currently working on something that will hopefully make it to festival this year that will have a bit of that on. I know it won’t be as masterful as some of the pieces I saw last year but it is an improvement of what I did last year and that has to be the main point right? To keep improving yourself.

Well I hope that’s been helpful for you. Hope to see some of you there. Tell me in the comments section what else you would add to this list?

Earlier in the year I made this little baby quilt for Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine. It’s in the current issue (75). I’ve used fabric from the Monsoon range by Makower which they kindly supplied, paired with white Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman supplied by Anbo Textiles.

Photo Credit: Love Patchwork & Quilting

The quilt is strip pieced, so it’s a pretty quick make.

The fabric is so bright and fresh. It makes me think of tropical holidays! Think I need a cocktail!

Want to have a go at making one? then you can get a copy of Issue 75 here.

I have a bit of a thing for mini quilts and my wall in my craft room is starting to fill up but I couldn’t resist one more! Can you spot it? There is actually two projects using this new line of fabric on that wall!!

So here it is. My Live Life in Colour Mini Quilt. I picked 20 of the rainbow spectrum fabrics to surround the words. I wanted them to be kind of exploding out from the words in true colour burst style!

I love the little fun touches Shayla has incorporated into the fabrics. I really wanted to try to keep those within this project. So I was happy when I managed to fussy cut ‘Hello’ into the exact place I wanted it!

The words have been constructed with strips of fabric and then appliqued onto the dark background. Obviously I’ve gone for the British spelling of the word colour as I’m British! But you guys from across the pond could just omit the ‘U’.

The borders were added, and Yes, those are Y Seams at the corners. But seriously they shouldn’t be feared!

Deciding how to quilt a project is always fun. But, I always curse myself at this point for loving the rainbow spectrum as it often means I need to quilt with lots of different colours which means lots of thread changes! But it is so worth it!

People often ask me what brand of thread I use. Well to be honest I don’t stick to one particular brand, but I do have my favourites and the common theme is that they are all good quality threads. I love using Sulky, Aurifil and Guterman. I use a variety of weights and types: cotton; rayon; metallic and polyester.

I’ve worked like a crazy woman to get this pattern finished, so I’m happy to say if you want to make one of these for yourself, you can!!! Get the pattern HERE.

If you are new here then do stick around and have a browse. Sign up to my newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! On social media? The follow along on Instagram or Facebook.

Oh and I couldn’t resist using Good Vibes Only to make up a micro mini version of my Create Every Day pattern (which coincidentally is what I designed for the blog tour last year for Shayla’s Foundation range of fabric!).

To see more of the wonderful creations made with the fun Good Vibes Only fabric by others participating in this blog tour then click on the links below. There have already been some amazing projects shared already and more to come! Be sure also to check out the Good Vibes Only lookbookput together by Shayla. You can find out more about Shayla here:

Hello, my name is Jo and I am a Messy Maker. There, glad I’ve got that out in the open!! When I signed up to Cheryl Sleboda from Muppin.com’s Spring Clean your Studio blog hop I was full of positivity...such a good idea …. I thought. But as time ticked on, and the days went by, and the actual date got closer, I came to the realisation that I really was that bad!! I just NEVER seem to be able to tidy up as I go along. It’s the same in my non crafty areas of life. I build up a massive pile of pots and pans as I cook and deal with them later (or if my husband is home, he deals with them!).

Anyhow, the upshot is that my craft studio (and other areas of the house) just has mounds of discarded fabrics, threads and other notions just lying about, occasionally spilling onto the floor where they are ignored! It’s disgraceful and so embarrassing!

But before I show you the worst parts of me lol, if you’re new here I guess I should have introduced myself properly!! I’m Jo Westfoot from The Crafty Nomad, and as well as being a Messy Maker , I am also a designer of modern quilt and sewing patterns. I live in a quaint little English village in Hampshire, UK with my husband, daughter and cat. I have a love for all things rainbow. I love to sew and quilt, teach sewing and quilting and talk about sewing and quilting!! I’m the Chairperson of the Hampshire MQG. I occasionally design for Quilt Now and Love Patchwork and Quilting magazines.

Here are some of my favourite makes. Be sure to follow along on Instagram if you like what you see!

Break out the Bunting Quilt

Tumbling Spools Sampler Mini Quilt

Rainbow Steps Baby Quilt for Make Modern

Puzzled Geese Quilt

So I digress, back to the studio makeover.....So to say my studio needed this, really was an understatement. Here are some before photos!! Like I said I’m a ‘dropper’, I just drop it where it was last used!! These pictures are so mortifying! And I’ve actually set it so you can click on them and see them bigger with all their awfulness magnified!! I must be mad!

I decided to deal with the main problem: FABRIC. (Hahahaha, not me of course, I couldn’t possibly be the problem!!)

So first I had a clear out. Took two full boxes to my guild meeting and thankfully came home with a pretty empty boxes! I have since filled two more boxes that will be going back to next month’s guild meeting or to charity. And could definitely do more. But let’s just take this one step at a time. I also managed to fill a huge black refuse sack and had lots of recycling too!

Next I decided a trip to Ikea was in order. I needed something better to hold my scraps. You see, as well as a messy maker I am also a fabric hoarder. I just can’t bear to get rid of small scraps. One day I’ll use them. I promise. Well, maybe.....

Anyhow I found some fabric drawers (Flarra) that would fit in my Kallax unit. The only problem was that they were boring black. So I decided to take 10 hours out of my ‘tidying up time’ to pretty them up!!

Boring black next to jazzed up!

Showing the divider inside

I added some pretty fabrics to the front to tell me what colours lay inside. And also added a divider to most of them. Five are for scraps, to be organised by colour. The sixth rainbow one is to be used for bundles and bundle scraps. I like to keep collections together where possible. I’ve written this up as a tutorial. It’s available to all my newsletter subscribers. So if you’re interested then do sign up. You can unsubscribe at any time of course, but if you like it, then you might want to stick around as subscribers are the ones that get all my future free tutorials!

So after I had finished making those (read: procrastinating!) I carried on tidying. And here are some after shots. So this one is taken as you walk through the door. I love that if I leave the door open that I see that wall of colour every time I walk past. Most of the minis are made by me with a couple made by friends.

I store my threads on those wall mounted stands. Think I need another one though for all the new blues and greens! I wrote a post about keeping threads tidy, how ironic, you can read that here. The little Kallax is home to things I probably don’t need anymore: little kids craft stuff. (My daughter is 15 now!).

The view from the window. The bookcase houses my small machines, power cables and irons for sewing classes and workshops.

It’s also home to pretty things like ribbons and tins. I just put my Ombre Improv Curves mini quilt up above it. Not sure it’s staying there, I think I’d like it in a frame in the kitchen!

On the left (below) you can see the large Ikea Kallax cube unit. Home to fabrics, books, Big Shot diecutting machine, packaging materials, excess batting etc, and now my fabulous scrap boxes! Bolts are laying down on the top, with my light box.

To the right, the unit stores all my card making and stamping supplies. Have not made any cards in an age so probably should get rid of that! On top are some baskets with WIPs. And then there is my Create Every Day Mini reminding me to do something creative every day!

I totally love the view from my sewing machine! I wonder how long I can keep it tidy for!?

Tidying up this room has inspired me to rethink how I use it, if I need to hang on to some stuff and the layout. I see more changes in the future. But before that I will have to clear up the rest of my craft stuff that wasn’t in this room! I currently also use the family room for cutting and storing stuff that won’t fit in this room. I daren’t post a picture of that!! That is now next on my list.

Wow if you are still with me then well done! Thanks for stopping by and reading this post. If you’re new here and have liked what you have seen then have a good look around and consider following along on Instagram, Facebook or sign up to receive my newsletter.

If you’ve only just stumbled on to the blog hop then do go back and check out the people that posted before me and carry on following along for those to come. If you are on Instagram then be sure to follow the hashtag #springcleanyourstudio2019 The inspirational Sam Hunter is up next tomorrow so be sure to click on the link to her website and see what her studio looks like. Here is the full list.

Abigail is a fabulous LongArm Quilter and teacher (I promise that doesn’t mean she has really long arms! Hehehehe) I met Abigail when I joined Oxfordshire Modern Quilt Guild. She produces really inspiring quilts with amazing quilting designs. I thought it would be fun for you to get to know her too.

Now she tells us a little bit more about herself.

Q. Tell us a bit about your business

I am a longarm quilter who quilts for myself and offers quilting services for others, from a simple basting service for those who want to quilt their own to a fully custom quilting service. I am one of two Handi Quilter Educators in the UK and teach HQ owners through the supplier, Pinhole Quilting. I also offer private one-to-one longarm tuition on any make of longarm machine. I have recently developed quilting courses that I deliver to both quilters with longarm machines and those quilting on their domestic sewing machines.

Q. What prompted you to set up your business within the quilting industry? Have there been any key moments or turning points?

I was Home Educating my girls and wanted to be able to earn some money whilst working from home. A longarm machine seemed a good opportunity and it was also something that could be transportable should we move back to New Zealand at any stage! I always knew that if I invested in a machine it would have to pay for itself. I am glad to say that it does and that it has opened up lots of interesting doors. In the 3 1/2 years since I have had my machine I have definitely noticed an increase in the number of people who know what a longarm machine is. Initially I was always having to describe what it was and what I do, but due to an increased presence of machines in the UK it is becoming more well known with the industry.

Where to Next Quilt By Abigail from cut&alter and her Handi Quilter Longarm quilting machine

Q. What's new with you? What does 2019 have in store for your business?Teaching more, hopefully. I became a Handi Quilter Educator in August 2018 and since then I have been teaching HQ owners on their Foundation and Intermediate classes and I also offer courses run for both longarm quilters and quilters on domestic sewing machines. I have my first talk booked in for September which makes my whole family laugh. I was the girl at school and university who was always mysteriously ill on any day where public speaking was involved, so the fact I have voluntarily signed up to give talks is incredible and I have to say rather nerve wracking!

Q. Where in the world do you live and what do you love about it?I live in Shipston on Stour in Warwickshire. We moved at the end of last year and whilst it is only 20 minutes down the road from Stratford upon Avon it really is quite different. We are right on the edge of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire aswell so there are lots of new places to explore. What do I love? The fact the girls are now able to walk to and from school - it means my work has really taken off.

Q. Tell us about the first patchwork or quilted item you made

I truly have been creating since as long as I can remember and was an early fan of EPP. I made lots of things with hexagons using my mum's scraps and even tried to make a cushion cover with corduroy offcuts and cardboard templates - you can imagine that one didn't get finished.

Q. How did you get into quilting?

My first proper quilt was a lap quilt made from vintage Laura Ashley scraps from all our childhood homes. I was living in New Zealand at the time and had just had our first child and felt rather homesick. The act of making the quilt and evoking so many memories bought a little piece of Warwickshire to the Bay of Plenty.

Q. Tell us about where you sew? Are you a neat freak or a messy maker?

I have to say I am a bit of both. Whilst I love everything in its place and do regularly tidy up to achieve that, whilst I am working on a project I have everything everywhere and sometimes all over the house too.

What is your best accomplishment so far with patchwork & quilting?

On a personal level I think it is my quilt Mini to Maxi - Churn Dash which received a Highly Commended in the Modern Category at Festival of Quilts 2018 and was then subsequently juried into QuiltCon 2019 - if only I had been able to go to Nashville. On a business level it is getting repeat customers. I truly want customers to love the quilting on their quilt when they get it back. They place a huge amount of trust in me to quilt their tops and it is wonderful when they come back time after time.

Mini to Maxi - Churn Dash by Abigail from cut&alter

Q. What's the favourite item you ever made?That is such a difficult question to answer but I do have a couple of favourites. One is a flag quilt called Should I Stay or Should I Go? This quilt has both the Union Jack and New Zealand flag on it and represents our family being split between the UK and New Zealand. The other is Where To Next? This quilt was made for the In the Spotlight gallery at Festival of Quilts in 2017 where the theme was No Place Like Home and I decided to make a map of Stratford upon Avon.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? By Abigail from cut&alter

Q. What was the last item you made?

This was a rainbow mini quilt which used a new technique for me to achieve 100 squares in a 5" space! Teeny Tiny Rainbow then evolved from that challenge square and it is all made from scraps.

Teeny Tiny Rainbow Mini Quilt by Abigail from cut&alter

Q. What's your best sewing/quilting tip?Replace both your needle and rotary cutter blade frequently. Also try piecing with a 60wt thread - it makes your seams so smooth and flat.

Q. Tell us what your favourite tool is?

A small cutting ruler that measure 6 1/2" x 2 1/2". I received this in a swap parcel from the US and thought I would never us it - I use it every day that I am in my studio. In fact I need to replace it because the lines have started to wear off it is so well used.

Q. Tell us your favourite fabric range?I have never bought fabric ranges, in fact I very rarely buy fabric with a project in mind. The exception to this are Kona solids by Robert Kaufman. My stash of Kona colours is growing slowly but I would love to be able to afford a little of the whole range, that's 342, but who am I kidding I would like a bolt of every colour and the space to house it!

Beautiful Quilting sample by Abigail from cut&alter

Q. What do you listen to/watch whilst sewing?

I don't. I tried an audio book once but my mind wonders and I kept having to rewind when I realised I had no idea what was going on. I find that I am actually doing a lot of design work in my head whilst I am sewing.

Q. Where can we find you? Online or in real life

I am most active on instagram as @cutandalter and over on Facebook fb.com/cutandalter and I have a blog www.cutandalter.blogspot.co.uk which I hope to keep more up to date. In real life you can find me at Quilts UK in Malvern and Festival of Quilts demonstrating the Handi Quilter machines at Pinhole Quilting's stand and I am always open to suggestions for teaching, talks and collaborations.

Thank you for that Abigail! Love seeing all your fabulous quilts, and oh boy the thought of quilting with corduroy! Yikes!

Welcome to The Crafty Nomad Blog - a quilting blog in the UK. I'm Jo, the owner of The Crafty Nomad here in England. This is where you can keep up to date with the crafty happenings at The Crafty Nomad. I'll post pictures of my latest quilts and other crafting projects. They will be fun sewing tutorials and how to's. I might even feature some of my favourite quilting products! Some blog posts contain affiliate links. This just means that if you click them and buy the item I receive a tiny bit of commission helping me to continue to run this business and inspire you! You won’t pay any extra for the item.